Monday, January 13, 2014

How Windows 8 is like Obamacare

Let's get one thing straight, this article isn't meant to be
an attempt to be flippant about either topic Rather it's about mandates.

Mandates rarely come without causing someone pain. Does the pain of a failed operating system rival
that of a botched Universal Healthcare mandate?
Unquestionably not but this isn't about equivalence, it's about
arrogance.

Windows 8 was launched with great fanfare. Preceded by not one but two public betas
designed to blunt the inevitable shock by a customer base soon to lose their
beloved Start Menu. At the time
Microsoft's two Steve's, Ballmer and Sinofsky, touted the gospel of one OS to
rule them all. Even if that wasn't quite
true.

The Windows on your phone wasn't
the same as the one on your PC and neither was the one that graced your shiny
new Surface RT.

But wait, for some strange reason, nobody wanted the Surface
RT or Windows Phone...

Apparently the same went for Windows 8.

It was too much too fast.
A mandate by Goliath to David. A directive handed down promising an end to our computing tedium and
liberation from the evils of multiple platforms. Remember what I said about not being quite
true?

Let's switch from Redmond Washington to the Washington
everyone cares about. The one with D.C.
in the name. The one where the prospect
of healthcare for everyone was the dream of Presidents all the way back to
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. So finally,
after years of haggling, backroom deals with insurance industry lobbyists and
even a Supreme Court challenge the dream became a reality.

Sort of...

The grand idea came with compromise. Healthcare for all but still at the whim of a
corrupt industry that left the poor bankrupt and the sick unhealed. It was a mandate after all. Everyone had to play or be subject to a
fine. There would be websites, exchanges
and lip service. If you liked things the
way they were you could continue that way....

except...

You couldn't. That
part about whims of a corrupt industry?
Well, when their policies didn't measure up to the law they simply
canceled them. No warning, no notice,
just a curt letter. The claim was that
the policies didn't meet muster and more expensive options were the only answer
aside from no coverage at all.

Oh what political hay was made. Endless prattle about promises broken and
families harmed soon ensued.
Meaningless, all of it. The
bottom line was a mandate executed by the executioners with the blessings of
the government via flawed public policy.
It all made for glittering sound bites but the result fell short.

Employers railed against the changes claiming crippling
costs to provide adequate care and vows to reduce costs on the backs of their
laborers. Even if it meant reducing the
labor force itself, suppressing wages or
cutting hours to do it. It was true
costs were spiraling out of control but not because the concept of healthcare
for everyone became law. It was because
the moneychangers collecting the bills demanded more. Something's got to give and it wasn't going
to be the insurance industry.

Employers claimed an unfair burden of their employees
healthcare costs but to those in their charge the employer is the only
option. Nobody making minimum wage
could shoulder the costs of an individual policy that often exceeded their month's
wages.

We blame the ideology instead of the real problem, the insurance
companies. It wasn't the government, well,
actually it was because they let it happen.
Ultimately, however, the blame lay squarely at the feet of the messenger
(themoneychangers) and they still wanted their share. Now they had the law to get it for them.

Nobody likes a mandate and rebellion will soon ensue either
subtle or gross. Tell someone that touch
screens and tiles are how you must use a computer from now on and expect some
blowback.

Tell insurance companies that they
must cover everyone but do nothing to keep them honest and you end up with the
healthcare mess we have now.

The similarities are staggering...

Yes, Windows is just an operating system while healthcare is
often a case of life or death but the fumble is the same.

A change in the way we work with our technology was long
overdue, Windows 8 showed us a glimpse of a better future. So too was Universal healthcare but like the
ill fated operating system it was a glittering promise that couldn't deliver. At least not as it is now.

In the case of Windows you could always just stick with the
old version or wait for Microsoft to fix their error in judgment with Windows
9. Not so with Universal Health care,
there's no turning back the clock regardless of what the politicians say. But
just like any version of Windows, expect a slew of "patches" in an
attempt to make things better.